When the surviving members of Joy Division convened after the death of their friend and singer Ian Curtis, they apparently had one thing on their minds: the need to carry on.
It was this need that fuelled the career of one of the greatest British bands of the 80s, perhaps the only white group to wholly incorporate black dance music into their sound. Slowing emerging from the gothic shadows of Joy Division, the group learned how to party and in doing so changed the way bands make music – as well as the way we listen to it.
…giving birth to a thousand bedroom boffins
With New Order’s Factory Records output to be re-issued this week, Clashmusic.com counts down ten of the best moments in the career of this truly groundbreaking group.
1. ‘Ceremony’
A band left distraught by the death of their iconic frontman and friend, few predicted that New Order would last beyond this – one of the last songs Joy Division wrote together. With Bernard Sumner’s voice hidden in the mix and little electronics, it is not recognizably a New Order record – yet equally it is not weighed down by Joy Division’s existential ballast.
2. New York / ‘Everything’s Gone Green’
In order to get over the death of Curtis, the freshly formed New Order decamped to America where they were to tour. Typically, they played very little music, choosing instead to take drugs and visit clubs – a precedent had been set. Returning with boxfuls of electro and disco records the group set about recreating what they had experienced. The result was ‘Everything’s Gone Green’, and never has such an addictive beat been so shambolic.
3. ‘Blue Monday’ / TOTP
The Big Bang. There’s a fair case to be made that this record is as musically influential as ‘God Save The Queen’, giving birth to a thousand bedroom boffins who suddenly realized that British people could make dance music as well. The record sold so well that the producers of Top Of The Pops caved in and let the band perform live. Of course they were rubbish, and ‘Blue Monday’ slid back down the charts, but a point had been proved.
4. ‘Confusion’ / Arthur Baker
By now completely in love with the New York club scene, New Order decided to work with the only producer in the world more eccentric than Martin Hannett. The result was a pioneering blend of rock and electro, totally removed from their pasty-faced British peers. Baker’s incredible 12-inch remix was so utterly far-sighted he may as well have starred in ‘Bladerunner’.
5. Ibiza / ‘Technique’
The Factory story wouldn’t be quite the same without drugs – it would probably make a lot more sense for a start. New Order decamped to Ibiza, ostensibly to record somewhere sunny, but what they found instead of sun were shitloads of ecstacy and Balearic beats. The resulting album, eventually recorded back in the UK, was ‘Technique’ – utterly drenched in ecstatic abandon it stands as one of the band’s true creative peaks.
6. ‘World In Motion’
Its got John Barnes rapping, Keith Allen in the video, and was for the England football team. As a Scottish writer, I should kick this record into touch but for some reason I can’t quite bear to. Maybe its because this was the first time football had been fashionable since the casuals turned terraces into warzones, maybe its because it’s a decent tune. Or maybe it’s because ‘World In Motion’ has John Barnes rapping on it.
…the contents of the swear jar could have bailed out the Hacienda
7. ‘Regret’
Recorded in the aftermath of Factory’s collapse, and with the band already planning solo projects, the recording sessions for the ‘Republic’ album were fraught to say the least. However, this melancholic tune somehow emerged and waltzed its merry way up the US charts. Tragically, it was one of the group’s last releases before a five-year hiatus in which they rarely spoke.
8. Comeback show at Reading 1998
If there was one man who believed in New Order perhaps even more so than the band itself did, it was their manager Rob Gretton. After five years of almost non-stop nagging by Gretton, New Order finally sat down in a room with each other and aired their grievances. Its not known what was said, but apparently the contents of the swear jar could have bailed out the Hacienda. Oh well, they live and learn, but an emotional return at that year’s Reading Festival proved the band could still put on an awesome show.
9. ‘Crystal’
Taken from ‘Get Ready’, their first album in nearly a decade, this lead single was the first glimpse the world would get of the reformed New Order. Any question over their ability was shattered by this track, which showed that even given a ten-year head start few bands on the planet had overtaken them. The Killers were so inspired they even half-inched the name of the fake band in the video.
10. Hooky leaves
A band built on internal friction, it was a wonder the New Order re-union lasted as long as it did. The peace the group had enjoyed was shattered earlier this year when Peter Hook announced the band’s split, apparently without informing the rest of the group. A messy press squabble ensued, with commentators predicting the end of New Order. But then, they said that the last time didn’t they?
